Wrapped In Pleasure - Brenda Jackson [130]
“Johari, are you all right?”
She glanced up into her brother’s concerned face and forced a smile to her lips. “Yes. I’m fine and I’m ready to go home now, Jamal. Please take me home.”
He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “Come on. Delaney is waiting for us in the jet. As soon as they finish refueling, we’ll be ready to go.”
Chapter 15
One week later
Johari had wondered how long it would take for her father and brother to finally summon her to meet with them. Everyone had avoided asking her any questions and she hadn’t offered them any information. There was nothing that needed to be said.
Evidently after a week they now felt differently. As far as she was concerned she wouldn’t provide any more information today than she would have last week. She might regret causing them undue worry, but there was no way she would regret meeting and subsequently falling in love with Monty.
Monty.
She missed him so much she actually ached. And each night she dreamed he was there with her, holding her in his arms while she slept, only to wake up in the light of day to find herself alone. But she had stored up plenty of memories of the time they had spent together and all the things they had shared. These memories would sustain her.
And…there was a possibility she carried his child. She wouldn’t know for another week or so, but that was the reason she had not brought up any discussion regarding moving ahead with her wedding plans. Luckily, that was one subject her mother hadn’t broached either.
The guard standing outside her father’s door nodded and then opened the door wide to announce her. “King Yasir, Prince Jamal. Princess Johari has arrived.”
She slowly walked into the room and glanced around, trying to recall how infrequently she visited this room where her father conducted most of his business matters regarding the sheikhdom. It was a huge room and one she used to like to play in when she was younger.
She approached her father, who sat in a chair behind a huge desk. Jamal was sitting in a chair at his right. “Yes, Father,” she said quietly. “You sent for me.”
Her father stared at her for a moment and said, “It’s been a week, Johari, and now it is time to address your act of disobedience. Not only did you cause me and your mother undue worry, but Saud was taken to task for failing to keep you under his watchful care.”
“But it wasn’t his fault. I—”
“Outsmarted him. We know, so he was not held at fault,” her father said, shaking his head. “Playing hide-and-seek from your bodyguards was all for fun and games when you were younger, Johari, but your actions are unacceptable now. You are twenty-four, a woman promised to a man who will be king of a very important country.”
“I didn’t hurt anyone by having some fun,” she said, lifting her chin and meeting her father’s direct gaze.
“Whether you hurt someone is a matter of opinion, one we will let your future husband decide,” her brother spoke up to say.
She turned her head to where her brother sat. “What are you talking about, Jamal?”
“What Jamal is talking about is the fact that once you became missing it was imperative to notify Sheikh Valdemon immediately,” her father responded in a rather tired voice.
She frowned. “Why? It didn’t concern him. I only prolonged my time in the States. A big deal should not have been made of it.”
Now it was her father’s turn to frown, and the one masking his face was considerably fiercer than the one on hers. “How can you say such a thing, Johari?” he asked in an angry voice. “You were missing for two weeks without a proper chaperone and bodyguard. The man who will be your husband had a right to know. And based on your actions, it would have been within Sheikh Valdemon’s rights to cancel the marriage contract between the two of you. If he had